Gas stops flowing from runaway well; fire down to small flame

The aftermath of the explosion and fire aboard Hercules 265 gas well is seen during an overflight observation. (AP Photo/Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement)

The aftermath of the explosion and fire aboard Hercules 265 gas well is seen during an overflight observation. (AP Photo/Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement)

Photo: Bureau of Safety aqnd Environmental Enforcement / AP

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The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

The Hercules 265 jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico was severely damaged after a natural gas well leak ignited a fire, collapsing a portion of the structure, on Wednesday, July 24.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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A fire ignited on the Hercules 265 jack-up rig after operators lost control of an undersea natural gas well, causing a partial collapse of the rig.

A fire ignited on the Hercules 265 jack-up rig after operators lost control of an undersea natural gas well, causing a partial collapse of the rig.

Photo: U.S. Coast Guard

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A photo taken on the morning of Thursday, July 25, shows the severely damaged Hercules 265 jack-up rig after a fire collapsed a portion of the structure.

A photo taken on the morning of Thursday, July 25, shows the severely damaged Hercules 265 jack-up rig after a fire collapsed a portion of the structure.

Photo: Hercules Offshore

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A photo taken on the morning of Thursday, July 25, shows the severely damaged Hercules 265 jack-up rig after a fire collapsed a portion of the structure.

A photo taken on the morning of Thursday, July 25, shows the severely damaged Hercules 265 jack-up rig after a fire collapsed a portion of the structure.

Photo: Hercules Offshore

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A fire is seen on the Hercules 265 drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, Wednesday, July 24, 2013. Natural gas spewed uncontrolled from the well on Tuesday after a blowout that forced the evacuation of 44 workers aboard the drilling rig, authorities said. No injuries were reported in the blowout. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) less

A fire is seen on the Hercules 265 drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, Wednesday, July 24, 2013. Natural gas spewed uncontrolled from the well on Tuesday after a blowout that forced ... more

Photo: Gerald Herbert / Associated Press

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A fire is seen on the Hercules 265 drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, Wednesday, July 24, 2013. Natural gas spewed uncontrolled from the well on Tuesday after a blowout that forced the evacuation of 44 workers aboard the drilling rig, authorities said. No injuries were reported in the blowout. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) less

A fire is seen on the Hercules 265 drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, Wednesday, July 24, 2013. Natural gas spewed uncontrolled from the well on Tuesday after a blowout that forced ... more

Photo: Gerald Herbert / Associated Press

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Photo: AP

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A cloud of natural gas billows over the Hercules 265 drilling rig from an undersea well. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

A cloud of natural gas billows over the Hercules 265 drilling rig from an undersea well. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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A cloud of natural gas billows over the Hercules 265 drilling rig from an undersea well. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

A cloud of natural gas billows over the Hercules 265 drilling rig from an undersea well. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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A cloud of natural gas billows over the Hercules 265 drilling rig from an undersea well. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

A cloud of natural gas billows over the Hercules 265 drilling rig from an undersea well. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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A cloud of natural gas billows over the Hercules 265 drilling rig from an undersea well. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

A cloud of natural gas billows over the Hercules 265 drilling rig from an undersea well. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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A cloud of natural gas billows over the Hercules 265 drilling rig from an undersea well. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

A cloud of natural gas billows over the Hercules 265 drilling rig from an undersea well. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

Photo: On Wings of Care / Copyright 2013

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A cloud of natural gas billows over the Hercules 265 drilling rig from an undersea well. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

A cloud of natural gas billows over the Hercules 265 drilling rig from an undersea well. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

Photo: On Wings of Care

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A cloud of natural gas flowing from an undersea well forms over the Hercules 265 drilling rig. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

A cloud of natural gas flowing from an undersea well forms over the Hercules 265 drilling rig. Workers evacuated the rig after a loss of well control Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

Photo: Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

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Gas stops flowing from runaway well; fire down to small flame

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Update:

Natural gas has stopped flowing from the well that blew out in the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday, federal officials said this morning.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said the well “bridged over,” meaning small pieces of sediment and sand flowed into the well path and restricted the flow.

A fire that raged on the Hercules 625 drilling rig Wednesday is down to a single flame from residual gas, the bureau and Coast Guard reported.

Earlier story:

A blowout preventer may have ignited the fire that caused a Gulf of Mexico rig to partially collapse Wednesday, after a natural gas well blew out, federal authorities reported.

A leak in the natural gas well, owned by Walter Oil & Gas, ignited a fire on a jack-up rig operated by Hercules Offshore late Tuesday night, hours after its 44 workers had been evacuated, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

The blowout preventer has since collapsed and isolated the fire,reducing the danger of a fire on the remainder of the jack-up rig but making a top kill operation remote, the Coast Guard said in an update to Congress Wednesday afternoon.

The two Houston-based companies have been working together with Wild Well Control, the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to curb the uncontrolled flow of natural gas from the well.

“We are making preparations to fight the fire at this point,” said Tim O’Leary, a spokesman for Walter Oil & Gas. “We are marshaling pumps and boats with firefighting apparatus.”

No one was injured in the evacuation, and no oil was spilled, O’Leary said.

Two firefighting vessels in the area have been moved to a safe distance from the fire and a third vessel with additional fire-fighting capability has been moved to the site, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

O’Leary said that the cantilever, an appendage of the jack-up rig that moves the drilling equipment over the well platform, has caught fire, but that the fire has not spread to the rest of the rig.

The fire caused the beams supporting the derrick and rig floor of the cantilever to fold and collapse over the rig structure, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said. The offshore support vessels were unable to get close enough to safely put water on the rig, the Coast Guard said in an update.

The ignition source may have been heat generated by the friction of formation sand shooting through the blowout preventer, the Coast Guard said. The sand may have traveled on the drill floor and up into the metal of the derrick.

Operators lost control of the natural gas well early Tuesday in the South Timbalier Block 220 in the Gulf of Mexico, while doing completion work on a sidetrack well to prepare for production. All 44 personnel from the Hercules 265 jack-up rig were safely evacuated, the company said.

The blowout preventer was constructed by Cameron, Noe said. Cameron will hold its second quarter earnings call on Thursday morning at 8:30 CST.

“There is no doubt that Hercules as well as Walter Oil & Gas, and the regulators, will be keenly interested in what role, if any, the blowout preventer played,” Noe said. “At the present moment we are singularly focused on identifying a plan, together with Walter Oil & Gas and the federal regulators, to regain control of the well.”

Any incident that involves an uncontrolled flow of hydrocarbons is likely to ignite, according to Brian Kalinec, owner of Kalinec Enterprises, a geophysicist consulting firm.

“Any kind of a spark or friction, especially if the surrounding air is dry, could start a fire,” Kalinec said. “It is like lighting a match and throwing it towards gasoline. It is highly flammable, so a spark could have caused it, if there is no other explanation.”

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is directing Walter Oil & Gas to begin preparations to move a jack-up rig on location to potentially drill a relief well.It could take two to four days to move a rig to location, and an additional 25 days to drill a a relief well, the Coast Guard said Wednesday afternoon in a written statement.

“We are not focusing on the cause of the spark,” said Eileen Angelico, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. “All of that is going to be part of an investigation that has started into the loss of well control event. Right now, we are focusing on the fire and the securing of the well.”

The relief operation’s challenge will be to establish the flow path of the natural gas and then figure out the best way to mitigate it, according to Bud Danenberger, a consultant and former chief of offshore regulatory programs at the Minerals Management Service, which has now been reorganized into the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

“Their options are a surface operation – which would be hazardous under the circumstances – or a relief well,” Danenberger said. “In many ways it is much more dangerous to deal with a shallow water operation than a subsea well. In a deepwater operation, the emergency personnel are safely removed from the well and using operating equipment remotely. At 5,000 feet above, you are running a joy stick as opposed to being right there where the fire is and running the risk of a structure collapsing.”

While the source of the leak is still unknown, Danenberger explained that there are several possibilities. The flow path could be inside production casing or tubing.

Another flow path could be between the casing strings or the space between the two concentric casing strings. Alternatively, it could be outside the casing, back to the seafloor, either through cement channels or through fractures in the sediments.

“The fact that there is a fire would imply that that is flowing inside the casing or between the casing strings, because it is coming back up to the surface to the rig,” Danenberger said.

The next steps for the operation will hinge on how the well was constructed.

“I would hope that there is enough well bore and well integrity that they can apply a surface cap and then pump in mud and cement or make some connections to pump in heavy mud, but I have no idea what the well flow is,” Danenberger said. “This is all contingent on the integrity of the well bore.”

The natural gas flow has caused a one mile by 200 foot area of light sheen that is dissipating and no shoreline impact is expected under current conditions, the Coast Guard said.

The well is 55 miles off the coast of Louisiana in 154 feet of water, Walter Oil & Gas said.

The rig was working on a sidetrack well — drilled adjacent to an existing one — in preparation for production, the safety bureau said.

The two companies have emphasized the focus on safety in efforts to control the well.